The Government’s newly announced funding for biodiversity and tourism of $30-million over three years is a small fraction of what is required for conservation in this country.
“Touting this funding announcement as a win for biodiversity is frankly embarrassing, given the deep cuts made to conservation last year,” says the Green Party spokesperson for Conservation, Marama Davidson.
“We can and must do more to protect biodiversity in our country by adequately funding conservation programmes through comprehensive, government-backed stewardship.
“This new funding is a mere drop in the bucket compared to what the Government’s own officials have told it is required for conservation - it also does very little to make up for the huge shortfalls the Department of Conservation is facing.
“The Department of Conservation manages a third of our country’s land. Officials say that they are $25 million a year short just to maintain their assets, and yet last year they had another $31 million a year cut from its budget by this ideologically driven Government with its relentless push to reduce public spending - regardless of the consequences.
“Unfortunately we have seen this Government repeatedly undermine Aotearoa New Zealand’s conservation priorities in favour of commercial interests, despite full knowledge of the challenge we as a country face to protect our biodiversity.
“Cuts by this Government are dismantling environmental agencies, including the Ministry for the Environment, and the Climate Change Commission, all the while eroding science capability across the public service.
“When the Green Party was last in government, we oversaw the largest funding injection for conservation in over a decade. Let’s fully resource DOC and environmental bodies so future generations can enjoy Te Taiao” says Marama Davidson.
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